Windows 7: Help: HP Pavilion dv7 Instability Issues (Heat Related?)

I have an old HP Pavilion dv7 1135nr laptop that has developed some instability issues. I got it shortly after Vista came out and while many complained of Vista's reliability, the laptop was always rock solid. Over the years it's gotten bogged down though and was getting a bit slow, so I figured I'd do a fresh install of Vista to clean the drive up via the restore discs Best Buy created for me, but they didn't work.

So I tried to put XP on it. That didn't work out so well due to a lot of driver incompatibility issues, and the computer would keep giving me a BSOD during attempted installed, or just flat out cutting itself off completely with no BSOD or anything...like the battery went completely dead (it was still plugged in).

I figured the hard drive may be crapping out, so I replaced the hard drive and then put Windows 7 on it (which installed fine), but it's still cutting itself off after it's been on for a few minutes. It seems to be related to heat (I think). The bottom of the computer gets hot, hotter than normal, and the fan runs non-stop. After it's really warm it'll cut itself off, and if I cut it back on it'll stay on for a few minutes and then cut itself off again. If it's completely cool and hasn't been turned on for a long time it'll run for half an hour until it gets really hot and cuts itself off again.

Is it possible that I damaged something trying to install XP on it, or is it just a coincidence that all these issues started coming up at the same time I tried to do a new OS install?



System Specs:
AMD Turion X2 RM-70 2.0GHz processor
4GB Memory
250GB Hard Drive (upgraded to WB Caviar Black 320GB 7200 RPM HD)
ATI RADEON HD 3200 video card
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit (upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium)

The battery was barely holding on and I thought the hard drive was failing too, so I just dropped $100 on a new battery and a replacement hard drive, and just put Windows 7 on it, so I'd really like get it stable rather than just replacing it. Even if it means replacing RAM or something else.

Hello there.

When you opened the laptop to install the new HDD on it, did you see any signs of cummulated dust on the fans, or on the laptop in general? a can of compressed air would be the best choice here.. Of course, this is if the problem is heat related, which to me it sound like it.

Download this program: Speccy - System Information - Free Download

And post a screenshot with the summary that'll give us a hint about the temps.

Thanks for the quick reply Punkster. I didn't see any dust inside really, but the fan is pretty buried in the case. I can definitely hit it with some compressed air and see if that does the trick. I'll get on it and post the screenshot. Hopefully the computer will stay on long enough to do so.

Might want to install a temp monitoring software like speedfan and see what kind of temps you are running.

So I took a Rocket Blower to the vent for the fan on the backside of the laptop base, and a ton of dust came out. The fan isn't running all the time now. I also downloaded Speedfan and when I started the computer temps were at 58C, and after about 15 minutes of being on are now at 70C (as of my typing this they are hovering between 66-70C).

I'm going to let it run for a while and see what happens. Snippet from SpeedFan is attached. CPU Usage looks abnormally high for absolutely nothing happening, but that's to my untrained eye. Is that normal or is something up? CPU Usage is hovering between 32-55%.

High cpu usage without user initiated processes would mean you've likely got a ton of startup items. Click on the Start orb, type msconfig, hit Enter. In the msconfig window, click on startup tab and uncheck anything you dont need to start automatically. E.g. on my computers, only the AV, touchpad driver and password manager are checked.

Is this a clean install of Windows 7 or an upgrade from vista, xp etc? Driver/software conflicts can also drive the cpu crazy.

Other than that, heat is a bit of a nuisance in notebooks. If you are handy with it, you can try changing out the thermal paste- that would likely help the most or maybe get a service center to do it for you. You can also buy a notebook cooling pad- that'll draw the warm air out and improve ventilation.

Clean Windows 7 install. I like the idea of a cooling method for it. Any input on what the best option would be?

I've heard mostly good things about Antec, Zalman and Coolermaster. But just google, you'll get recos. Also check out customer reviews on Amazon etc. before buying. I personally have a targus but didnt help too much on my overheating HP.

My dv9720us just surfing, fan is on low with temps about 40-45 cpu both cores and the GPU about 54c and watching a video runs up to maybe 62c on the GPU and 48c on cpu so looks like you have a heat issue plus I check mine with coretemp and the beta version of speedfan just because it has more features.

Win7 troubleshooting fundamentals